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Accessing opportunities Policy decisions for enhancing urban mobility Paul Collier Edward Glaeser Tony Venables Priya Manwaring Michael Blake January 2018
Accessing opportunities
Policy decisions for enhancing urban mobility
Paul Collier Edward Glaeser Tony Venables Priya Manwaring Michael Blake
January 2018
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Accessing opportunities: policy decisions for enhancing urban mobility
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 2
1. Disconnected and congested cities .............................................................................. 3
2. How can policymakers address growing demands for private transport in cities? .. 9
Increasing infrastructure supply for private transportation .................................................. 9
Managing demand for private motorised transport........................................................... 13
Which investments in public urban transport are most appropriate for a city? ........... 23
Can regulating and integrating semi-formal services help improve mobility? ................... 28
How can policymakers decide on additional investments for mass capacity public
transport? ........................................................................................................................ 34
How can policymakers address challenges to the introduction of BRT and bus systems?43
The importance of complementary urban land use planning for urban accessibility .. 46
Concluding remarks ......................................................................................................... 49
Recommended further reading ........................................................................................ 50
List of case studies
Price restrictions in London and Singapore……………………..…………………………...…..13
Quantity restrictions on ownership in Beijing ………..…………………………………………..14
Quantity restrictions on use in Delhi, Mexico City and Quito…………………………….…….15
Plans for congestion charge in Manhattan halted by State Legislature……………………….17
Congestion pricing in Stockholm ……..……………………...………………………..………….20
Public buses, minibuses and motorbikes in Douala, Cameroon……...……………...………. 25
Matatu safety reform in Kenya…………………………...……………………..…………………28
Regulation, formalisation and integration of minibuses in Turkey………………………..……29
Regulation and renovation of minibuses in Dakar………………………….…..……………….30
Limited scope for regulation without enforcement capacity in South Africa……...….…….....31
Resistance to BRT reform in Dar es Salaam ……………………..……………………………. 42
Communication to address resistance in Lagos……………….…………………….………… 43
Land use to complement transport investments in Curitiba, Brazil………...………………….46
With thanks to Jitendra Bajpai, Gilles Duranton, Daniel Graham, Erick Guerra, Jeffrey Gutman, Astrid Haas, Biodun Otunola and Matthew Turner for their significant contributions.
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Executive Summary
Cities drive growth because of their ability to bring together firms and workers in an
environment that promotes scale and specialisation. Urban mobility is at the centre of this
process, enabling firms and workers to access the large and specialised markets for goods
and labour that underpin productivity. However, in many developed and developing cities,
nonexistent walkways, crippling traffic jams and high costs of transport services limit both
the liveability and the productivity of the city. Improvements in urban mobility systems yield
significant benefits to transport users, and to a city at large. In order for policymakers to
improve urban mobility, they face difficult trade-offs when deciding how best to address
growing demands for private transport in cities, and when choosing to regulate and
invest in public transport links such as minibuses and bus rapid transport systems.
Investments in the construction, maintenance and management of infrastructure such as
roads and pavements can yield substantial benefits in improving access for users. However,
evidence from developed cities suggests that a fundamental law of highway traffic exists
whereby expanding roads, though allowing for greater ease and access of transport for
many citizens, will not solve a city’s congestion problem. As incomes and populations
rise, vehicle use will rise to fill these new roads. As a result, complementary regulation of private vehicle use is also needed, to allow private vehicle drivers to internalise the costs of
their behaviour on the wider urban environment. Regulation of private means of transport
can be a win-win for policymakers, if the proceeds from such regulation is used to finance
public transport systems. The revenues from private vehicle permit auctioning in Shanghai,
for example, at approximately USD$700 million in 2011, were estimated to be high enough
to cover the cost of all public subsidies for transport systems in 20121.
Accompanying investments in public transport options are key to tackling environmentally
unsustainable and congested forms of mobility in rapidly developing cities. Urban population density is a key factor in determining whether to invest in higher capacity public
transport systems to meet mobility demand in a city. Higher capacity systems such as Bus
Rapid Transit (BRT) systems and metros can form the backbone for high density activity and
complement lower capacity feeder route systems from the outskirts of a city. The BRT
system launched in Lagos in 2008, for example, served over 200,000 passengers daily in its
first year of operation and cut average in-vehicle journey times by 40 percent2.
Policies to improve mobility in cities are, however, only one piece of the puzzle. People’s
access to job opportunities and urban services can also be expanded by increasing their proximity to each other. This highlights a key role for urban land use policy to
complement investments in mobility in improving access in cities.
This paper first considers the challenges of urban mobility faced by developing cities, before
exploring the role for policy in improving connectivity. In Section 2, this paper looks at
options for policymakers in meeting growing demand for private transport in cities through
the management of supply and demand. Section 3 considers the trade-offs associated with
regulation of, and investments in, different public transport systems.
1 Jun Yang et al., “A Review of Beijing׳s Vehicle Registration Lottery: Short-Term Effects on Vehicle Growth and Fuel Consumption,” Energy Policy 75 (2014): 157–66, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.05.055. 2 Dayo Mobereola, “Lagos Bus Rapid Transit: Africa’s First BRT Scheme,” Urban Transport Series (IBRD/World Bank, 2009).
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1. Disconnected and congested cities
The importance of accessible, affordable, and uncongested transport
Cities drive growth because of their ability to bring together large numbers of firms and
workers with a wide variety of skills, allowing for efficient scale and specialisation of
production. With a large pool of connected individuals, people with a wide variety of skills
can be matched to jobs that are most suited to them, and firms can specialise to meet the
specific demands of consumers.
Transport networks are at the heart of making a successful city. By improving access and
ease of mobility across a city, the effective area across which cities can connect workers,
firms and markets is extended. People across a city can benefit from potential growth of economic clusters and increases in productivity. This in turn can act to attract greater
levels of foreign investment, urban job creation and wage growth. Evidence from developed
cities suggests that this output effect of transport investments is strongest for road
construction and has the greatest impact on primary, manufacturing and construction
industries3. In Bogota, neighbourhoods located less than 500 meters from TransMilenio bus
rapid transit stations that opened in 2000 have 7% higher wage increases than those located
more than a kilometre away as a result of greater connectivity and job-matching – with even
stronger effects in peripheral areas4.
But in many developed and developing cities, citizens lack the ability to access jobs and
opportunities, due in part to a lack of proximity to these opportunities, but also because of
limited means of mobility to move between locations. Nonexistent walkways, crippling
traffic jams as well as high costs of transport services limit the quality of life of individuals
and restrict the productive potential of cities.
3 Patricia C. Melo, Daniel J. Graham, and Ruben Brage-Ardao, “The Productivity of Transport Infrastructure Investment: A Meta-Analysis of Empirical Evidence,” Regional Science and Urban Economics 43, no. 5 (September 2013): 695–706, 4 Nick Tsivanidis, “Commuting Technologies, City Structure and Urban Inequality: Evidence from Bogotá’s TransMilenio” (IGC Cities Conference, London, 2016)
Traffic in Delhi, India (Photo: Flickr, Lingaraj GJ)
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Without adequate means of mobility across a city, firms are unable to access large input and output markets that can allow for firms to grow to an efficient scale and specialize in
production of particular goods, and that in turn enhances productivity in urban areas. At the
same time, citizens are deterred from working far away from their homes. In Mumbai, more
than 60% of commuters walk to their jobs - the figure is even higher at up to 70% in
Kampala5. Without affordable means of transport that can connect workers to jobs in more
distant locations, poorer individuals are often forced to move to overcrowded central slums
so that they can more easily access jobs.
Improving people’s access to opportunities in rapidly developing cities requires:
1) Increasing means of mobility in a city. This means increasing the supply of
infrastructure and services for both private and public means of transportation in a
city. Emerging cities have very little land allocated to roadways and other
infrastructure, and road networks that do exist are largely clustered near the centre of
cities. Evidence from 14 African cities reveals that pavements are missing on around
65% of all roads, and where they do exist, they are poorly maintained6.
2) Reducing congestion that negatively impacts these means. As cities grow, more
pressure will be put on existing transport systems, resulting in higher congestion.
This is not necessarily a bad thing – it can signal greater economic activity in a
growing city. However, measures to reduce congestion can allow for greater access
to opportunities, reduce costs of transporting goods, and limit CO2 emissions.
Estimates of the costs of congestion in Britain, France, Germany and the US suggest
that congestion costs - including the cost of wasted time, inflated transport costs and
the cost of carbon fume - cost these economies $200 billion (0.8% of their GDP) in
20137.
3) Enhancing affordability of transport systems. In many developing cities, effective
means of mobility across a city are prohibitively expensive for the majority of citizens.
Though determining what exactly an ‘affordable’ fare is is difficult and will depend on
the city, distances travelled, and the income group being targeted, in many cities the
cost of public transport is out of reach for a large percentage of households. The full
price fare of a travelling 10km to work by public transport each day in many cities
comprises over 30% of incomes of the poorest quintile, deterring long distance
travel8. As a result, we see low ridership on many public transport systems, whilst
low-income households are often forced to live in low quality informal settlements in
central areas of cities to avoid the cost of commuting from areas further from the city
centre
5 Somik V. Lall, “Planning, Connecting, and Financing Cities - Now : Priorities for City Leaders” (The World Bank, 2013), 6 Ajay Kumar and Fanny Barrett, “Stuck in Traffic: Urban Transport in Africa,” Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (2008). 7 Centre for Economics and Business Research/INRIX, “The Future Economic and Environmental Costs of Gridlock in 2030: An Assessment of the Direct and Indirect Economic and Environmental Costs of Idling in Road Traffic Congestion to Households in the UK, France, Germany and the USA,” 2014. 8 Robin Carruthers, Malise Dick, and Anuja Saurkar, “Affordability of Public Transport in Developing Countries” (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005).
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Share of household budget spent on transport (for all households with positive transport expenditure) and share of household budget needed for two public transport trips/day for the
poorest quintile (Source: Lall et al., 2017)
In Bogota, for example, though a large proportion of the population can access
between 76.3 - 97.9% of all employment within an hour using public transport, when
taking into account the affordability of fares charged, effective access to employment
in the city is reduced by up to 54%9. Evidence from Addis Ababa suggests that
improving the affordability of public transport services for users through transport
subsidies, for example, can have a significant positive effect on the employment
prospects of unemployed youth living in the outskirts of the city. In one study,
transport subsidies for higher-skilled unemployed workers at vacancy boards
resulted in a 7% increase in likelihood of higher quality, permanent work10.
For more on subsidies for transport fares, and pro-poor subsidies in particular, see Cities that Work Policy Brief on Institutions and incentives for infrastructure and service delivery.
It is important to note, however, that the price of transport, both in terms of monetary cost
and in the costs of congestion, plays an important role in rationing its use in a city. As
such, enhancing affordability of transport systems without increasing means of low
congestion mobility (and incentivizing individuals to switch to these) is simply likely to
increase congestion in a city.
9 Camila Rodriguez, “Bogota’s Bus Reform Process: Accessibility & Affordability Effects, Lessons Learnt & Alternatives to Tackle Informal Services” (World Bank, 2016). 10 Simon Franklin, “Location, Search Costs and Youth Unemployment: A Randomized Trial of Transport Subsidies in Ethiopia,” CSAE Working Paper Series (2015). Transport subsidies were randomly allocated to higher skilled workers as part of this study
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Improvements in urban mobility systems are particularly beneficial for low-income
households, as affordable and efficient transport links allowing households to access larger
labour markets whilst still living on less costly land further from the centre of the city.
Additional benefits of improving urban mobility
In addition to improving the quality of life for commuters and extending the effective area
across which cities can connect workers, firms and markets, investing in more affordable,
accessible and uncongested means of mobility also have a number of additional benefits:
1) Increased sustainability. Investing in shared urban transport systems to reduce traffic
and improve accessibility in a city can tackle negative environmental externalities
associated with private vehicle use. Cross-country evidence suggests that the opening
of subway systems worldwide between 2000 and 2014 have been associated with a 5%
reduction in urban air pollution through reduced automobile use11.
Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) measure of particulates relative to subway openings (Source: Gendron-Carrier et al., 2017)
2) Social cohesion. Investing in public transport systems to improve their quality can also
serve to enhance cohesion across different social groups by encouraging a diversity of
groups sharing transport services. In Mexico City, for example one of the key aims in
expanding the urban railway system has been to encourage social cohesion, whilst in
Barcelona targeted subsidies for transport are used to improve economic and social
integration of less affluent groups12.
3) Coordination of expectations. Investments in transport links such as roads, bus lanes
and light rail stations can also act to anchor expectations and therefore investment across a city by increasing connectedness and desirability of surrounding property and
therefore land values in the area, whilst providing a credible signal of planned future
investments in surrounding areas. Before the Light Rail Transit system opened in Addis
Ababa in 2015, for example, private investments in surrounding areas were already
11 Nicholas Gendron-Carrier et al., “Subways and Urban Air Pollution,” 2017,. 12 “Mobility and Social Cohesion,” Background Paper in Preparation of the Metropolis Conference in Toronto (Metropolis, 2006).
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taking place in expectation of future economic activity. Without the government’s
intervention, potential profitable clustering of investment may not have occured as no
one is willing to make the first risky investment without assurance others will do the
same.
Construction along new roads in Addis Ababa (Source: Bird and Franklin, 2015)
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The role of urban policy in improving urban mobility
The significant benefits of addressing constraints to transport systems in cities mean that
governments have a key role to play in improving urban mobility. Policy plays a crucial role
both in enhancing and managing the supply of transport infrastructure and services, and in
managing demand for public and private transportation services.
Public transportation refers to shared passenger-transport services which are available to
the public. These can be privately provided.
Transport investments are costly, and can shape the form and function of cities for decades.
As such, policymakers face a number of important trade-offs when considering how best to
improve transport links in a city that address the needs of urban mobility in the long run:
Improving connectivity
by…
Capital and operating
costs
Effect on congestion
Effect on emissions
Resistance from public transport operators
Resistance from
transport users
Investing in roads Medium
Reductions
minimal
Can increase
emissions or
have minimal
impact
Low Low
Road management Low- medium
Medium
reductions
Minimal
reduction Low Low
Investing in pavements and cycle
lanes
Low
Medium
reduction
effects
Medium
reduction Low Low
Regulating private
vehicle use Low
Minimal – high
reductions
(depending on
type and
enforcement)
High reduction Low High
Formalising minibuses Low
Minimal
reductions
Mimimal –
medium
reduction
Low Low
Investing in bus rapid
transit systems
Medium – high
(depending on
type)
Medium – high reductions
(depending on
type)
Medium
reduction High Low
Investing in rail based
urban systems
High – very
high
Medium – high
reductions High reduction Low Low
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2. How can policymakers address growing demands for private transport in cities?
Private travel encompasses journeys made by car, motorbike, bicycle and by foot. In many
developing cities, these form the predominant means of travel in a city. They therefore
provide important means of connectivity where there is limited municipal revenue for public
transport services.
Increasing infrastructure supply for private transportation Infrastructure for private transport include roads, flyovers, cycle superhighways, and
pedestrian over- and underground walkways. Investing in this infrastructure can play a
crucial role in improving accessibility in cities - initial results from a study of 154 Indian cities
show that 70% of the variation in car travel speeds comes from differences in the speed of
travel at 2am, largely determined by the extent and organisation of road infrastructure13.
To meet growing demand for private transport use in many cities, policymakers can invest in
increasing the effective supply of infrastructure for private (and some forms of public)
transport by:
1) Building new infrastructure. The density of paved roads in countries in sub-
Saharan Africa is less than a quarter of that in other low-income countries14. Even in
urban areas, only 16% of developed land across 7 major cities in sub-Saharan Africa
between 1990 and 2014 was allocated to roads15. A lack of investment in urban road
space is in many cases indicative of limited access to opportunities and services
across a city and can result in high levels of congestion. In Kampala, for example, a
road network built in the 1960s to accommodate 100,000 vehicles – of which
currently only 20% is in adequate condition - is unable to accommodate the free flow
of approximately 400,000 vehicles today16. In Douala, only 0.5% of residents in
peripheral settlements have direct access to a paved road17. As such, building new
roads is a key part of urban policy to improve mobility.
2) Maintaining existing infrastructure. At the same time, maintenance of existing
infrastructure is crucial in improving urban mobility. In many cities, potholes in roads
are a source of delays for high capacity buses, whilst uncovered manholes on
pathways are a threat to accessibility by pedestrians.
3) Spatial planning and regulation to use existing space more effectively through ‘traffic management’ solutions. In Lagos, for example, infrastructural investment
and planning has significantly reduced congestion by improving road capacity and
alignment at junctions, as well as constructing laybys and bus shelters to reduce
congestions on main roads. Accompanying investments such as traffic lights and
13 Prottoy Akbar et al., “Accessibility and Mobility in Urban India,” 2017. 14 Vivien Foster and Cecilia Briceño-Garmendia, “Africa’s Infrastructure: A Time for Transformation” (2010), 15 Patrick Lamson-Hall et al., “A New Plan for African Cities: The Ethiopia Urban Expansion Initiative” (NYU Stern Urbanization Project, 2015). 16 KCCA, “Stategic Plan 2014/15-2018/19: Laying the Foundation for Kampala City Transformation”; Astrid Haas, “From Moving Vehicles to Moving People: Designing a Mass Public Transportation System for Kampala,” IGC, 2017 17
Ajay Kumar, “Understanding the Emerging Role of Motorcycles in African Cities: A Political Economy Perspective” (Sub-
Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program, 2011).
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signalling to control traffic flows on particular roads can also be used to improve use
of existing road capacity.
One-way traffic regulations in central business districts, for example, can reduce
congestion resulting from vehicles turning off roads across traffic from the opposite
direction. One-way traffic systems introduced on main roads in Kampala have helped
to reduce congestion and manage traffic flow at junctions18. As such, though one-
way systems often increase distances travelled, they can cut down travel time for
private and public vehicles in busy areas. However, this should be weighed against
negative effects of one-way traffic on:
• Safety – studies suggest that speeds are higher on one-way streets, resulting
in higher levels of collisions19.
• Surrounding developments – evidence from Louiseville, Kentucky, suggests
that one-way roads tend to reduce surrounding commercial values as
compared to two-way roads20.
In addition, in many cases the extra time spent travelling further distances using a
one-way system outweighs the time saved in traffic. For shorter journeys in
particular, research suggests that two-way streets can serve more trips per unit of
time due to shorter distances that need to be travelled – and that even on longer
journeys, the trip serving capacity of two-way streets where cross-traffic turns are
banned may be highest21.
Non- motorised vs motorised transport Infrastructure for non-motorised forms of transport in particular offer low-emission access
to locations unreachable by motorized transport and in dense central areas of cities can
offer the quickest form of travel. Investing in this infrastructure can dramatically increase
accessibility at relatively low costs.
The capital cost per kilometer of a
pedestrian walkway that can
accommodate 4,500 people/hour/direction
is approximately USD$100,000. This is up
to 50 times less costly than an urban road
that can carry only 800 people per hour
per direction22.
Separated cycle superhighway in London
(Photo: Cmglee, 2014)
18 World Bank, “Bus Rapid Transit for Greater Kampala Final Report” (World Bank, 2014). 19 William Riggs and John Gilderbloom, “Two-Way Street Conversion: Evidence of Increased Livability in Louisville,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 36, no. 1 (March 1, 2016): 105–18; Reid Ewing and Eric Dumbaugh, “The Built Environment and Traffic Safety: A Review of Empirical Evidence,” Journal of Planning Literature 23, no. 4 (May 1, 2009): 347–67 20 Riggs and Gilderbloom, “Two-Way Street Conversion.” 21 Vikash V. Gayah and Carlos F. Daganzo, “Analytical Capacity Comparison of One-Way and Two-Way Signalized Street Networks,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, no. 2301 (2012), 22 Phillip Rode et al., “Accessibility in Cities: Transport and Urban Form,” New Climate Economy Cities (LSE Cities, 2014).
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Increasing access to these means of travel is particularly beneficial for low-income groups
to whom this is the primary means of travel. Investing in physically separated walkways or
separate cycle ways can also improve vehicle flow on roads, though this often comes at
the cost of closer proximity to opportunities by foot/bicycle.
However, investing in pavements and pedestrian tunnels also cannot provide a
sustainable solution on their own for improving efficient connectivity across an entire city,
given the time taken to travel long distances by foot or by bicycle. As such, additional
investment in motorised transport can also significantly expand means of mobility in a city.
The limitations of expanding effective road supply
û Though expanding the supply of infrastructure for private cars plays an important role
in expanding access to mobility, these investments take time and come at a
significant cost. The average cost of constructing a two-lane concrete highway
across developing countries is approximately $1.5 million per kilometre23.
û At the same time, it is important to note that evidence from US cities has revealed a
fundamental law of highway traffic, whereby vehicle kilometres travelled increases
proportionally with interstate highways24. Therefore, expanding roads, though
allowing for greater ease and access of transport for many citizens, will not solve a city’s congestion problem; as incomes and populations rise, vehicle use will rise to
fill these new roads. This is a particular problem in central areas of large cities, where
congestion significantly affects people’s ability to move around the city. In Accra, for
example, despite relatively good roads, traffic congestion continues to rise as around
2 million commuters travel to the downtown central business district each day. This
problem is only likely to grow as the population of Greater Accra (now at 4.3 million)
is predicted to double by 2035, along with private vehicle use25. In Kampala, many of
the main roads that were built to ease transportation to the CBD have become the
most congested routes into the city. As such, building roads alone is unlikely to be
able to keep up with the transportation needs of rapidly growing urban populations
using predominantly low-capacity private vehicles.
û Private means of motorized transport may also be unaffordable to many households
in developing cities, and are also likely to increase emissions in a city as compared
to public motorised transport.
23 Figure based on data from the World Bank's Road Cost Knowledge System (World Bank, 2006). The average cost of producing a two-lane concrete highway measured in 2000US$ is $1.02 million. This has been adjusted for inflation to 2017 using average consumer price inflation rates from Brazil, Chile, Uganda, India, Thailand, Philippines and Bangladesh. 24 Gilles Duranton and Matthew A. Turner, “The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities,” Working Paper (2009), 25 Brennan Weiss, “Gridlock in West Africa: Accra’s Troubled Attempts to Tackle Its Traffic Crisis,” The Guardian, 2016
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In order to meet and manage demands for private transport requires additional policies to:
• Regulate the demand of private vehicle use
• Provide alternative public transport options
26 Vu Anh Tuan and Tetsuo Shimzu, “Modeling of Household Motorcycle Ownership Behaviour in Hanoi City,” Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies 6 (2005). 27 Asif, Weaver Faiz, “Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles : Standards and Technologies for Controlling Emissions” (The World Bank, November 30, 1996) 28 Lall, “Planning, Connecting, and Financing Cities - Now.” 29 J. Kigera, L. Nguku, and E. K. Naddumba, “The Impact of Bodaboda Motor Crashes on the Budget for Clinical Services at Mulago Hospital, Kampala,” East and Central African Journal of Surgery 15 (2010)
Motorbikes are a common form of private transport in many developing cities. In Hanoi, for
example, motorcycles make up 60% of the transport modal share, as compared to public
buses that make up 5% of modal share26. Though motorbikes are likely to carry greater
numbers of passengers on roads per vehicle than cars and with lower costs are able to serve
lower-income segments of urban populations, they have a number of disadvantages:
û They are high emission vehicles - motorcycle use in many cities has been associated
with high levels of local pollution27.
û At the same time, they have also proven to be extremely dangerous. In Kampala, for
example, through ‘boda boda’ motorbikes form only 5.9% of trips in the city28, over
40% of all trauma cases at Mulago Hospital involve these motorbikes29.
û Motorbikes offer lower capacity than public transport and so in the long run, they are
unlikely to solve congestion problems in a city.
Both private cars and motorbikes contribute significantly to congestion in Hanoi (Photograph: Kham/Reuters)
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Managing demand for private motorised transport
Many forms of private motorised transport require regulation in order to improve safety,
reduce emissions, and reduce traffic congestion for improved mobility. Without regulation,
private vehicle users do not internalise the costs of their behaviour on the wider urban
environment. This is likely to be particularly harmful in central areas of dense cities, where
private vehicles contribute significantly to congestion.
In order to reduce transport congestion, and to incentivise private vehicle users to switch to
use of public transit services, there are two main types of regulation policymakers can use:
1) Putting an additional price on private transport. This can be done by imposing a
quota on car ownership and allowing users to bid over user-rights, as seen in
Singapore. The alternative is to impose an additional price on travel, which travelers
can respond to by adjusting their use. Policymakers can impose additional charges
directly for vehicle use, through congestion charges where private vehicles pay a
daily fee to drive in particular urban areas. They can also charge users indirectly, for
example through fuel taxes or parking permits.
30 Gabriel Kreindler, “Driving Delhi: The Impact of Driving Restrictions on Driver Behaviour,” 2016. 31 Lall, “Planning, Connecting, and Financing Cities - Now.” 32 Winston T. H. Koh, “Congestion Control and Vehicle Ownership Restriction: E Choice of an Optimal Quota Policy,” Research Collection (Singapore Management University, School Of Economics, 2004),
Case study: Price restrictions in London and Singapore
In London, the introduction of a congestion charge fee in resulted in a 30% decline in
excess delays from traffic congestion30, and has resulted in a 6 percent increase in the
number of passengers using buses during charge hour31.
Congestion charge signage and zones in London (Image sources: mariordo59, 2012, ed g2s, 2007)
Another example of effective price restrictions is seen in Singapore’s Certificate of
Entitlement’ (COE) system, whereby 10-year private vehicle permits are auctioned, has
been associated with a reduction in the average annual growth of vehicles from 4.4%
between 1975-1989 to 2.9% between 1990-200132. Revenues from these auctions have
been used to invest in roads and publically provided transport systems.
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These can be effective in limiting private vehicle use at all times of day or in peak hours.
It is important to note that a congestion charge for private vehicle use is already ‘paid’ to
some extent by road users in the form of time wasted in higher levels of traffic. Price
disincentives offer an alternative way of managing demand whereby private vehicle users
instead pay a transfer payment that captures the effect of their vehicle use on overall
congestion. The optimal uniform congestion charge is one that charges users in such a way
that the costs to society of private decisions to drive do not outweigh the benefits to society
as a whole.
2) Quantity restrictions on vehicle ownership or usage that do not include overt
payments. Again, these can be direct restrictions such as limits on vehicle licenses,
“high occupancy vehicle” restrictions that regulate the number of people in a car and
“odd-even” policies that only permit certain vehicles to use roads on particular days,
or indirect restrictions such as parking space restrictions in a city.
Quantity restrictions on the number of cars licensed can play a significant role in reducing
vehicle use, as seen in Beijing.
However, the effect of quantity restrictions that limit vehicle use at particular times or on
particular days (rather than limiting the quantity of vehicles directly) is less clear, with varied
experiences across different cities. Though there have been short run positive effects of
these policies in Delhi, studies have predominantly found that permanent vehicle use
33 Yang et al., “A Review of Beijing׳s Vehicle Registration Lottery.”
Case study: Quantity restrictions on ownership in Beijing
Since 2011, vehicle licence
plates in Beijing are
restricted and allocated to
drivers based on a public
lottery. Alongside existing
financial regulations to reduce vehicle ownership and increased subsidies for public
transport, this policy has had a dramatic effect on the growth of individual vehicles and on
congestion in the city. The number of vehicles on roads is predicted to have decreased by
11 percent by 201033.
Monthly changes in new vehicle registration in Beijing, 2010 – 2011 (Source: Yang et al., 2014)
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restrictions have not been effective in reducing vehicle use or associated air pollution34.
In a number of cases, these types of quantity restrictions on vehicle use are circumvented by
drivers by buying additional vehicles or adjusting the times they drive, imposing a capital
cost on drivers with no strong benefits in terms of reducing vehicle use.
34 Paul E. Carrillo, Arun S. Malik, and Yiseon Yoo, “Driving Restrictions That Work? Quito’s Pico y Placa Program,” 2013. 35 Kreindler, “Driving Delhi: The Impact of Driving Restrictions on Driver Behaviour.” 36 Francisco Gallego, Juan-Pablo Montero, and Christian Salas, “The Effect of Transport Policies on Car Use: Evidence from Latin American Cities,” Journal of Public Economics 107, no. C (2013): 47–62.
Case study: Quantity restrictions on use in Delhi, Mexico City and Quito
In Delhi, restrictions on 4-wheel vehicles to allow only odd or even number-plated vehicles
drive on alternate days over two 15 day rounds in 2016 resulted in significant reductions
in delays from traffic congestion of approximately 10% in the weeks it was applied.
Though more than half of drivers who stopped using their 4-wheel vehicles were able to
legally bypass the legislation by using alternative cars or rickshaws, a small but significant
proportion of the population switched to public transportation use. This resulted in an 8-
11% increase in public transport use by those restricted by the legislation. Though drivers
reported 6-8% lower levels of satisfaction with their commutes on days they were
restricted, overall satisfaction across restricted and unrestricted days increased by 15%35.
However, these results should be taken with caution; given the short time span of this
policy experiment, they may not be replicable in the long run.
Mexico City’s Hoy No Circula (HNC) programme, introduced in 1989 amidst concerns
about air quality in the city as a result of high levels of traffic congestion, limits the use of
each private vehicle for one weekday between 5am and 10pm, depending on the last digit
of their license plate. The effects of this programme have not been clear. Evidence
suggests that in the short run, this policy has been associated with an 5-13% reduction in
carbon monoxide (a proxy for car use), but that 12 months the programme was
associated with an increase in vehicle use pollutants by 11% - with even higher increases
on weekends36.
Daily CO records during peak hours in Mexico City, 1987-1991 (Source: Gallego et al., 2013)
16
Should policymakers implement price or quantity restrictions?
Though both types of restrictions have proved effective at limiting congestion across cities,
financial restrictions are advantageous in three main ways:
ü By allowing an open market to determine who is willing to pay to use their vehicles,
user-rights are efficiently allocated to those who are most willing to pay.
ü Financial disincentives raise revenues for governments, enabling a win-win situation
where restrictions on private use can be used to fund public transportation systems.
The revenues from private vehicle auctioning in Shanghai, for example, were
approximately USD$700 million in 2011. This was estimated to be high enough to
cover the cost of all public subsidies for public transport systems in 201239. Because
public transport systems are more likely to be more cost efficient the higher urban
density (see below on the importance of urban density), price regulation in areas
where traffic congestion is highest can help to finance public transport in those same
areas where these systems are most cost efficient.
ü As discussed above, some types of quantity restrictions can be easily circumvented
by buying more cars. In an attempt to prevent individuals from buying new cars to
circumvent restrictions on vehicle use, the municipal government in Quito is
considering changing the assignment of license plates to different days of the week
so that different license plates would be valuable to have in combination over time40.
37 density 38 Carrillo, Malik, and Yoo, “Driving Restrictions That Work? Quito’s Pico y Placa Program.” 39 Yang et al., “A Review of Beijing׳s Vehicle Registration Lottery.” 40 Carrillo, Malik, and Yoo, “Driving Restrictions That Work? Quito’s Pico y Placa Program.”
Studies suggest that the introduction of this programme incentivised users to switch
towards driving more on weekends and late evenings when the HNC regulations were not
in place, and that, perversely, in the long run resulted in higher levels of vehicle use and
pollution during all periods as drivers bought more than one vehicle – particularly higher
polluting used cars - to circumvent the restriction37.
In Quito, Ecuador, a similar Pico y Placa program has been associated with a reduction in
carbon monoxide ambient concentration of around 9 -11% during peak hours, and 6%
between 6am and 8pm on working days, suggesting similar magnitudes of reduction in
vehicle flows in the city. Though after the initial 20 months of implementation its effect has
diminished due in part to more vehicles as a result of population growth in the city, the
programme has been found to still have an effect in reducing pollutants with limited
evidence of behaviour to circumvent regulations38. The relative long-term success of this
programme as compared to similar policies in Mexico City and Bogota may be the result
of the fact that this programme is subject to review and extension every 6 months. As a
result, drivers may be less willing to make large investments in new cars given the
uncertainty surrounding the continuation of the policy.
17
While congestion pricing systems in London or Stockholm involve costly and complex
technology to track and fine car usage, this doesn’t have to be the case. In Singapore in
1975, a low-cost paper license system was introduced to restrict car usage in the downtown
area during rush hour. Colour coded tickets made enforcement of this system easy to
implement. Financial restrictions may be seen as overly burdensome on poorer section of
society – but it is important to note that in practice, more wealthy households are also able to
overcome quantity restrictions such as odd-even policies by buying additional cars.
Improving voluntary compliance with regulations
Regulations on private vehicles to address congestion, emissions and safety can be very
difficult to implement. They are likely to face significant resistance from private vehicle users
and businesses in areas where congestion charges are perceived to reduce numbers of
customers. As such, they have had limited traction in developing cities. In London, for
example, westward expansion of the congestion charge zone has been met with strong
resistance and policy reversal despite the successes of congestion pricing41.
Case study: plans for a congestion charge in Manhattan halted by State Legislature
In 2007, New York Mayor Bloomberg proposed a congestion charge in New York’s
Manhattan area between 6am and 6pm. Despite projections that this charge would reduce
traffic by 6%42 and generate significant revenues for new transportation projects of over
US$490 million per year43, these plans were shelved by the New York State Assembly.
Due to strong opposition to the charge, the Assembly decided not to vote on the proposal
that would make the city eligible for US$354 million in federal funding needed to
implement this programme.
The majority of voters, who stood to lose out on toll-free access to Manhattan, opposed
the plans. Critics argued that:
û The tax was regressive – poorer residents would feel the effect of this tax more
heavily.
û There was a lack of transparency in how revenues would be invested in public
transport
û The charge would increase congestion and pollution in surrounding
neighbourhoods as people would park just outside the congestion zone.
û Charges could rise significantly over time once implemented
It is important to note, however, that evidence suggests that the majority of low-income
house commuters in Manhattan already did not drive to work, and that therefore the tax
policy and resultant increased spending on public transport could have in fact been
progressive44. In addition, if this policy was able to fund greater investments in public
transport, this could enable households to switch to public transport services that would
41 Dave Hill, “Who Will Speak up for the Congestion Charge?,” The Guardian, January 7, 2014 42 Orla Ryan and agencies, “New York Assembly Shelves Manhattan Congestion Charge,” The Guardian, April 8, 2008 43 William Neuman, “State Commission Approves a Plan for Congestion Pricing,” The New York Times, February 1, 2008, 44 Tri-State Transportation Campaign, “New Data Proves Congestion Pricing Is Progressive Policy” (Tri-State Transportation Campaign, 2007); Jarrett Murphy, “Debate Fact Check: Is Congestion Pricing Regressive?,” Citylimits.Org, 2017.
18
reduce car usage both within the congestion zone and in surrounding areas. However,
aggressive lobbying tactics used by Bloomberg and his
progressive45. In addition, if this policy was able to fund greater investments in public
transport, this could enable households to switch to public transport services that would
reduce car usage both within the congestion zone and in surrounding areas. However,
aggressive lobbying tactics used by Bloomberg and his supporters ultimately failed to
convince enough members of the Legislature of the benefits of this scheme46.
Subsequent attempts to introduce congestion charges in the city have met with similar
resistance.
Effective implementation of these controls requires efforts to improve compliance through
incentivising those affected to support regulation, and by improving monitoring and
enforcement capacity.
Support for regulation can be encouraged through:
1) Effective communication with and feedback from the public in designing regulations. This will help to address specific needs and concerns associated with
these regulations. For example, before the congestion charge scheme was introduced
in London in 2003, the Mayor invited feedback on proposed legalisation from a wide
range of stakeholders, in particular those citizens who were most likely to have their
journeys and residential areas affected. Based on feedback received on the widely-
publicised proposals, modifications were made which allowed for greater public
ownership and acceptance of the scheme47.
2) Awareness campaigns to inform the public of the social benefits of regulations in
terms of reduced traffic, improved air quality, better safety procedures, and the
opportunities for public transport services that can minimise transport times and costs
for everyone. This may be particularly important when targeting centrally located
residents who are more likely to be inclined to reduce regulate private transport in
their area (provided this is not likely to reduce nearby central retail activity48).
45 Tri-State Transportation Campaign, “New Data Proves Congestion Pricing Is Progressive Policy” (Tri-State Transportation Campaign, 2007); Jarrett Murphy, “Debate Fact Check: Is Congestion Pricing Regressive?,” Citylimits.Org, 2017. 46 Nicholas Confessore, “$8 Traffic Fee for Manhattan Gets Nowhere,” The New York Times, April 8, 2008 47 Dirk van Amelsfort, “Introduction to Congestion Charging: A Guide for Practitioners in Developing Cities” (Asian Development Bank and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH., 2015). 48 Bruno De Borger and Antonio Russo, “The Political Economy of Pricing Car Access to Downtown Commercial Districts (Working Paper)” (Centre for Economic Studies/IFO Institute, 2016). 49 Amelsfort, “Introduction to Congestion Charging: A Guide for Practitioners in Developing Cities.”
Though many resistant to congestion charges argue that these charges reduce travel in a
city and thus have negative effects on commercial business, there is limited evidence to
suggest this is the case in highly congested areas. Congestion charges in areas where
there is severe traffic, as in central business districts of many developing cities, can in fact
increase the throughput of vehicles in the area by reducing gridlock49.
19
3) Sufficient investment and/or subsidies in public transport supply to address the
additional demand generated by reduced private transport use. Without this investment
in public transport systems, increased fees on private vehicle use to reduce congestion
will simply limit accessibility of those previously able to afford this form of transport.
Attempts to ban motorbikes to improve safety in Kigali, Rwanda in 2006, for example,
without adequate affordable and timely alternatives for mass transportation, have been
met with strong political resistance. By contrast, in London and Oslo resistance to
congestion and toll charges was overcome by transparently linking these fees with public investment. In 1990, the city of Oslo decided to use 20% of revenues from toll
charges for public transport investment to reduce resistance to the introduction of these
charges50.
Improving accessibility, regularity and comfort of public transport services may also be
vital in gaining acceptance of private vehicle regulation and encouraging use of public
transport services by higher-income individuals for whom modes of transport are often
seen as a status symbol. Park and ride facilities, for example, can allow private vehicle
owners to use their vehicles to travel across low density areas in order to easily access
public transport services. In many developing cities, the importance of improving not just
the affordability but also the quality of public services in attracting new users is evident
from growing use of motorbike taxis by lower income households, despite the fact that
these services are more expensive than public buses51.
Policymakers face a trade-off here: subsidising fares can expand affordable access
to the poor, but using funds to improve service quality are more likely to incentivise
middle income groups to switch to public transport.
These investments can be useful not only in encouraging acceptance of regulation but
in incentivising switching to public transport use. Evidence from the UK suggests that
subsidising public transport fares in an effort to encourage vehicle users to switch to
public transport have very limited effects in the short run52. However, investments in
improving travel time and service quality of public transport can have much stronger
effects on mode choice53.
4) Incremental increases and expansion of such policies is likely to be crucial in
gaining support through a virtuous cycle of improved private and public transport – if
people are able to experience the benefits of private vehicle regulation through reduced
congestion and improved public transport services, they are more likely to support
increases in financial disincentives and expansion of regulation.
Fees such as congestion charges may also be easier to implement amongst people who are
less used to driving for free. Such charges may therefore be well suited for cities at early
stages of development where the percentage of people who own cars and other private
vehicles is relatively low (alongside investments in public transport alternatives).
50 Ryan and agencies, “New York Assembly Shelves Manhattan Congestion Charge.” 51 Kumar, “Understanding the Emerging Role of Motorcycles in African Cities: A Political Economy Perspective.” 52 MZ Acutt and JS Dodgson, “Cross-Elasticities of Demand for Travel,” Transport Policy 2, no. 4 (October 1, 1995): 271–77, 53 Ken Gwilliams, “Transport Pricing and Accessibility” (Brookings: Moving to Access, 2017).
20
Effective enforcement of all of these regulations requires:
1) Substantial investment in technological and monitoring capacity of regulators
and enforcers, such as police forces, environmental regulators and state and
municipal revenue departments. CCTV cameras have proved particularly cost
effective in reducing speeding and other offenses across high-income countries, with
cost-benefit ratios of up to 1:2754.
2) At the same time, investment is needed in effective monitoring of regulators charged with enforcing these regulations to prevent corruption and informal
bargaining, which can otherwise replace formal regulation. E-ticketing systems, for
example, can automatically dispense tickets according to CCTV footage, eliminating
the opportunity for informal fee bargaining and thus further reducing congestion in
cities55.
Though these investments are likely to be substantial, they play a key part in transforming a
city’s transport system. In Uganda, enhanced traffic safety patrol teams to enforce traffic
regulation on roads into Kampala in 2004 resulted in a 17 percent decrease in road mortality
by 200556.
Case study: congestion pricing in Stockholm
In 2007, the city of Stockholm introduced a congestion charge to reduce traffic flows in the
inner city. The introduction of this scheme was based on a seven-month trial period in
2006, followed by a public referendum in support of the introduction of this system. As a
result of this charge, traffic volumes in the city reduced by approximately 21% by 200757.
The system continues to enjoy public support58.
For four decades, congestion pricing in the city had been a source of ongoing contention
and negotiation among politicians, opposed by Liberal and Conservative politicians who
favoured expanding infrastructure to meet transport demand. The Mayor of Stockholm
between 2002-2006, Annika Billström, a member of the Social Democrat Party, had
herself promised that road pricing would not be introduced during this period59. However,
pressure from coalition Green Party members at the national and local level meant that
Billström was forced to take actions to implement a trial congestion charge. As a result
of this trial, traffic volumes over the six-month trial period reduced by approximately 22%,
resulting in significantly reductions in congestion and travel time60. Following this, a public
referendum resulted in 53% of Stockholm citizens voting to introduce the charges
permanently.
54 Margie Peden et al., “World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention” (Geneva: World Health Organisation, 2004), 55 Emmanuel Akinwotu, “Beatings and Bribes: The Corruption behind Lagos’s Traffic Jams,” The Guardian, February 25, 2016, 56 D. Bishai et al., “Cost-Effectiveness of Traffic Enforcement: Case Study from Uganda,” Injury Prevention 14, no. 4 (August 1, 2008): 223–27, https://doi.org/10.1136/ip.2008.018341. 57 Maria Börjesson et al., “The Stockholm Congestion Charges—5 Years on. Effects, Acceptability and Lessons Learnt,” Transport Policy, URBAN TRANSPORT INITIATIVES, 20, no. Supplement C (March 1, 2012): 1–12, 58 Ibid. 59 Ibid. 60 Jonas Eliasson et al., “The Stockholm Congestion – Charging Trial 2006: Overview of Effects,” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Stockholm Congestion Charging Trial, 43, no. 3 (March 1, 2009): 240–50,
21
A number of factors allowed for the introduction of a publically accepted congestion
charge:
• Incremental introduction. By implementing the charge first as a trial phase,
citizens could see the benefits of the charge for themselves before deciding on
whether they supported this policy change.
“If you confront people with a congestion tax, most people will say no. But if people saw that traffic was reduced and not hard to handle, they will be more in favor”
Louise Jarn Melander, Spokeswoman for the Swedish Road Administration’s congestion tax department61
• Adequate resources for initial capital investment. Significant national
government funding for the initial trial was essential for investing in the technology
that could effectively deliver visible reductions in congestion. Over US$220 million
was spent on this experiment with significant investments in computer systems
and camera with number plate recognition software to ensure the system would
work and be enforced effectively62. Stockholm benefited from the fact that the
central part of the city is on islands, and thus required fewer control points to
monitor use of the congestion zone, reducing the cost of implementing the
system63.
• Public investments and awareness campaigns. At the same time,
communication drives clearly linked congestion charge payments made as part of
this trial programme to the benefits they brought. By justifying the pilot charge on
the grounds of financial, and not just environmental, reasons, Billström was able to
ensure a broader base of support. Transport planners and administrators invested
significantly in improvements such as bus service expansions and new rolling
stock for subways during the trial period to reveal the benefits such a charge could
offer citizens64.
• Public participation through a referendum. By introducing a trial phase of the
congestion charge programme in 2006 that was to be followed by a public
referendum on whether to introduce the charge permanently, Billström ensured
that whatever the outcome, it would be politically acceptable.
61 Ken Belson, “Importing a Decongestant for Midtown Streets,” The New York Times, March 16, 2008 62 Jonas Eliasson, “A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Stockholm Congestion Charging System,” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 43, no. 4 (2009): 468–80. 63 Erik Hysing and Karolina Isaksson, “Building Acceptance for Congestion Charges – the Swedish Experiences Compared,” Journal of Transport Geography 49, no. Supplement C (December 1, 2015): 52–60, 64 TUT-POL, “Congestion Charging in Stockholm: The Path from Opposition to Advocacy,” TUT-POL Case Study (Transforming Urban Transport – The Role of Political Leadership, 2016).
22
Stockholm’s roads before and after the congestion trial. Extensive mass media was used to highlight the effects of the charge on congestion.
These features of the trial programme were crucial in maintaining and growing public
support for policy change. An advisory referendum, held in the City of Stockholm and
surrounding municipalities, revealed a majority in support for keeping the charges in the
City of Stockholm (though an overall minority when accounting for surrounding
municipalities that arranged referendums65). The results of the public referendum,
alongside the demonstrable role of congestion pricing in financing long term transport
investments in the city, motivated the newly elected Centre-right coalition to introduce the
congestion tax, with revenues used to fund new road infrastructure. Similar decreases in
traffic volumes of 21% were seen after the congestion charge policy was permanently
introduced in 200766.
65 Börjesson et al., “The Stockholm Congestion Charges—5 Years on. Effects, Acceptability and Lessons Learnt.” 66 Börjesson et al.
23
Which investments in public urban transport systems are most appropriate for a city?
Investments in public transport systems are vital to improve accessibility and reduce
congestion of mobility options in a city. However, public transport systems can be costly, and
careful cost benefit analysis of these systems is key to successful public investment in
transport. Though different public transport systems can be implemented as part of a multi-
modal system for a city, these offer different benefits in terms of their carrying capacity,
sustainability, regularity and speed, and come with a wide range of capital and operating
costs.
Public transport
mode
Carrying capacity/ effect on reducing
congestion
Capital and operating costs
Effect on emissions
Average proximity of residents to
transport mode
Resistance from existing transport
operators
Minibuses
Low Low High High Low
Public buses
Medium
Low-medium
Medium
Medium
High
BRTs
Medium – High (depending on type of BRT)
Medium – High (depending on type of BRT)
Medium Medium High
LRTs
Medium – High
Medium – High (higher than equivalent
capacity BRTs)
Low Medium - Low Low
MRTs
High - Very
High Very High Low Low Low
Careful consideration of the current and future relative costs and benefits of public transport
systems for a particular city can prevent over- or under-capacity in urban mobility. Whether
to invest in a BRT system, for example, depends in large part on projected levels of urban population density that determine transport demand. Without sufficient demand, investing
in more expensive higher capacity vehicles is not necessary nor is it financially sustainable. At the same time, planning investments for the future (with the exact time frame for
planning depending on how long these investments take) is crucial. The costs of retrofitting
necessary infrastructure when demand exists can be prohibitively expensive as compared to
planning for future development (see paper on institutions and incentives for infrastructure and service delivery).
24
The status quo: semi-formal paratransit services
In many developing cities across Africa and South Asia, access to public transit services
such as buses and trains are severely limited. Whilst growing use of private vehicles has
impeded the mobility and profitability of mass public transport, limited public resources
dedicated to public transport systems mean that the quality and quantity of services remain
low. Currently less than half of Kigali’s citizens, for example, have access to a bus station
within 500m of their homes67.
In this context, informal or semi-formal ‘paratransit’ services in the form of medium capacity
minibuses (that carry between 8-25 passengers), taxis and motorbikes are the predominant
form of public transport in many African and Asian cities. In Dakar, for example, semi-
formally provided minibus services account for over 80 percent of all public transport
demand in the city68. In Dar es Salaam, the 6,000 minibuses in operation service 43 percent
of commuters in the city69.
There is tremendous variation in the operation of these semi-formal transport services. In
Mexico City, for example, minibus operators can own thousands of vehicles and run multiple
routes. In other cities such as Lagos, most operators own their own vehicles. Though this
sector is usually made up of a number of self-employed entrepreneurs, these services are
coordinated by formal or informal cooperatives of operators to ensure fairness and efficiency
of services in the interests of their members.
What differentiates these services from formal public transport is that they lack one of the
following:
§ Necessary permits for vehicle use or for access to particular markets
§ Necessary certification requirements for operation, including quality of vehicles
§ Official legally required documentation such as liability insurance
Limited enforcement of regulations on transport in many developing cities mean that these
services are able to operate and fill the gap left by a lack of adequate formal public transport.
In many cases, these services can offer better and more reliable services than existing
formal transport systems. Motorcycle taxis in cities such as Lagos, Kampala and Douala
have resulted from the collapse of public bus services and subsequent deregulation of the
transport sector70.
67 Jitendra N. Bajpai, Roberto Ottolenghi, and Toma Berlanda, “**Sustainable Urbanization in Support of Economic Transformation: A Rwanda Study” (IGC, 2012). 68 Ajay Kumar and Christian Diou, “The Dakar Bus Renewal Scheme: Before and After” (Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program, 2010). 69 Matteo Rizzo, “The Political Economy of an Urban Megaproject: The Bus Rapid Transit Project in Tanzania,” African Affairs 114, no. 455 (April 1, 2015): 249–70, https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adu084. 70 Kumar, “Understanding the Emerging Role of Motorcycles in African Cities: A Political Economy Perspective.”
25
Case study: public buses, minibuses and motorbikes in Douala, Cameroon Until 1995, public bus services in Douala was were provided by a state-owned company,
the Société des transports urbains du Cameroun. However, limited resources for
subsidies,
combined with the company’s reluctance to increase fares, meant that this service
became increasingly financially unsustainable and eventually closed down. The
government liberalised the transport sector, in an effort to improve competition and
service levels in the city. A private bus company, the Société camerounaise de transports urbains, was contracted by the government in 2001 to operate on particular routes. This
company was protected from competition from minibuses, with regulations in place to
prevent their operation on the majority of routes. However, inefficiencies in these services
that led to rising costs, alongside fixed fares, meant that these buses too were forced
reduced their services. The fleet was reduced from 109 in 2001 to 70 by 200571.
The gaps in service that left unmet demand in the city, alongside regulations to limit
minibus operation, have meant the emergence of shared motorbike ‘moto-taxis’. Taxi and
moto-taxis form approximately 75 – 80% of all motorized trips in the city72. Approximately
half of these are owner-operated, providing low-income jobs for relatively young and
educated individuals.
Number of trips per day, by mode and income class
(Source: Kumar, 2011)
There are a number of benefits of these services that have led to their dominance over
public transport markets:
ü Relatively cheap to invest in. The size and age of semi-formal, older minibuses, for
example, make them relatively cheap to invest in compared to higher capacity buses.
A five - seven year old second hand 14 seater matatu bus in Nairobi costs around
USD$11,800, with net daily returns to owners of approximately $21 per day. This
means that capital costs of the vehicle would be recouped within the first two years of
vehicle operation. By contrast, a new 35 seater matatu costs around USD$46,00073.
A new motorcycle costs only $700 in Lagos or Douala, and are largely self- or
71 Kumar. 72 Kumar. 73 Kumar and Barrett, “Stuck in Traffic: Urban Transport in Africa.”
26
informally financed, with operators in Lagos earning a net average of $16-20 per
day74.
Not only does this mean that these services can be provided by the private market in
greater supply to meet transport demand (with greater financial viability for access
to public transport in low-density areas), but also that lower fares can be charged for
these services whilst remaining financially self-sufficient. Ease of entry into these
markets because of low capital costs means lower fares are usually charged for
these services in practice.
Importantly, this means that minibuses and motorbikes can play an important
complementary role to formal transport services by providing ‘feeder’ services
that provide citizens access to mainline services. As feeder routes usually
involve transporting fewer people from low density urban areas, these can
often be provided more cost-effectively by smaller vehicles.
ü Flexibility. Because of their relatively smaller size when compared to high capacity
buses, minibuses, taxis and motorbikes are able to travel almost anywhere where
roads exist. As such, they are likely to be more geographically accessible than other
forms of transport. In many areas of the city, therefore, using these services may be
the only feasible way for residents to access public transport services. Because of
their size, these services are also more able to manoeuvre potholes in roads and
existing heavy traffic to allow for shorter travel times.
These vehicles are also flexible in their geographical use and so are able to be more
responsive to changing market conditions, which can be crucial for cities at early
stages of development where future transport needs are difficult to predict.
ü Employment. Semi-formal transport operation provides a significant source of low-
wage employment to semi-skilled and unskilled workers in many developing cities. In
Dhaka, informal transport comprises almost 30 percent of total employment75.
As such, integration of semi-formal services to allow them to complement more complex
mobility systems is extremely important in providing employment opportunities in a city, and
in allowing policymakers to meet mobility demand in a city, maintain financially sustainable
services in low density areas, and maintain access to areas where roads are incapable of
carrying larger vehicles.
74 Kumar, “Understanding the Emerging Role of Motorcycles in African Cities: A Political Economy Perspective.” 75 Robert B. Cervero, “Informal Transport in the Developing World” (UN-HABITAT, 2000).
27
However, semi-formal services, particularly when unregulated, often cause a number of
problems for urban mobility:
Problems due to capacity/design
û Congestion. As they are medium
capacity vehicles, minibuses contribute
significantly to traffic congestion in
cities.
û Cost. The cost per passenger of
motorbike taxis is not necessarily lower
than than providing transport through
high capacity public buses.
Problems due to lack of regulation
û Irregular stops. The issue of traffic
congestion caused by many medium-
capacity minibuses is compounded by
their lack of regular bus stops. In
Kampala, for example, it is estimated
that 64% of congestion is due to the
frequent and irregular stops made by minibuses, slowing down these buses with
severe knock-on effects for other motorized transport76. These problems are
particularly severe near major bus terminals and marketplaces.
û Long waits. In many cities, in order to ensure sufficient revenues, buses wait at
terminals until fully loaded. As a result, there are often long waiting times for
passengers who catch these buses at bus stops and terminals and commuters often
cannot board the bus along its route.
û Lack of safety. Without appropriate regulation, these services can be highly unsafe.
Lack of training along with hyper-competition associated with semi-formal transport
sectors often results in aggressive, reckless and illegal driving, increasing chances of
road accidents. Two-thirds of moto-taxi drivers in Douala have been victims of traffic
accidents77.
û Pollution. Poor vehicle maintenance such as underinflated tires and high-emission
engines increases pollution in cities and results in traffic collisions.
76 Patricia Jones et al., “Kampala: A Policy Narrative” (World Bank, 2016). 77 Kumar, “Understanding the Emerging Role of Motorcycles in African Cities: A Political Economy Perspective.”
Matatu minibus taxis in Kampala queuing for the taxi park
(Photo: Dillon Marsh, 2011)
28
Can regulating and integrating semi-formal services help improve mobility? In many cities, governments have worked to regulate and formalise semi-formal services to
mitigate their potential downsides, with mixed success. Attempts to regulate these services
often seek to manage and enforce features such as entry into the market altogether (through
operating permits), pricing, quality of service (such as maximum passenger loads, vehicle
age, safety and emission standards), and liability insurance.
Potential benefits of regulation
Regulations can be beneficial in improving the quality of services and limiting supply where
necessary:
ü Regulation to improve the quality of vehicles and services such as health and safety
regulations and regulations on bus stops can be beneficial to consumers if suppliers
are able and willing to comply with these. Effective regulation to improve safety of
semi-formal transport has yielded significant benefits in a number of cities .
ü Regulations to cap fares can promote more affordable transport services are useful
in combatting monopolistic pricing. In Santiago, Chile, deregulation of the urban
transport sector in 1980 resulted in monopolistic behaviour on the part of route
associations that formed cartels and colluded in raising fares without improving the
quality of transport services – in fact, quality of services declined. In response to this,
city officials have now opted to grant competitive franchise contracts with regulated
fares for central areas of the city78
ü Regulation to restrict the supply of low capacity services on particularly busy routes
may be important to reduce congestion and improve financial sustainability of higher
capacity buses that can carry greater numbers of passengers with less road space.
In Kampala, for example, private investment in high capacity buses remains low due
in part to strong competition faced on routes from minibuses79.
Case study: Matatu safety reform in Kenya
In October 2003, legislative reform was implemented in Kenya to regulate safety and route
operations of the matatu minibus sector. This involved fitting matatus with ‘speed governors’
that limited speeds at 80km/hour, alongside regulation of the use of seatbelts, uniforms and
regular testing of drivers. These reforms, alongside less temporary arrangements for
employment of drivers and badges and prominent photo IDs for drivers, were strictly
enforced by fines. This was met with strong resistance and strikes from matatu operators,
organised by associations such as the Matatu Owners Association and the Matatu Welfare
Association. However, high level political support from the President suppressed resistance
and resulting strict enforcement meant that matatu accidents fell by 73 percent in the first 6
months of implementing these policies80.
78 Cervero, “Informal Transport in the Developing World.” 79 Jitendra N. Bajpai and Astrid Haas, “A Framework for Initiating Public Transport Reform in the Greater Kampala
Metropolitan Area,” IGC Policy Brief (IGC, 2017). 80 UN-HABITAT, Enhancing Urban Safety and Security, Global Report on Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT, 2007), Preston O. Chitere and Thomas N. Kibua, “Efforts to Improve Road Safety in Kenya: Achievements and Limitations of Reform in the Matatu Industry” (Nairobi: Institute of Policy Analysis and Research, 2012).
29
The downsides of regulation
However, regulations come with potential costs:
û Any attempt to improve quality of services is liable to come at the cost of affordability
for commuters
û Regulations to cap fares are unlikely to improve services in what are already usually
highly competitive markets – instead, lower fares are likely to be met with a
deterioration in the quantity or quality of services. In Colombo, for example,
competition from subsidised fares for high capacity buses offered by the publically
owned Central Transport Board are sufficient to force private bus operators to keep
prices low without fare or route regulation85.
û In addition, as mentioned, route regulation can come at the cost of competitive transport services, and may not be necessary or advisable in many cities where
81 Murat Gül, Architecture and the Turkish City: An Urban History of Istanbul since the Ottomans (I.B.Tauris, 2017). 82 Dorina Pojani and Dominic Stead, The Urban Transport Crisis in Emerging Economies (Springer, 2016). 83 Ibid. 84 Pojani and Stead, The Urban Transport Crisis in Emerging Economies. 85 Cervero, “Informal Transport in the Developing World.”
Case study: Regulation, formalisation and integration of minibuses in Turkey In Turkey, dolmuş ‘minibuses’ emerged in cities such as Istanbul and Ankara in the 1930s
and became a popular form of informal transport to fill the gap in public transport systems
provided by the state. Predominately privately operated, dolmuş formed 10 percent of public
transport provided by the municipality in Istanbul in 1950, growing to 20 percent by 195581.
These vehicles were often locally modified large cars with an expanded capacity of seven
people.
In 1954, the city of Istanbul established regulations over these vehicles which gave them
legal status. Larger capacity minibuses were added to the fleet after 1960, and by the 1970s
these buses accounted for almost 50 percent of public transport in the city. Over time, these
minibuses have become increasingly organised and integrated into the formal transport
network through regulation of routes, schedules, fares and vehicles. The allocation of
vehicles across routes is also regulated by the government82.
However, reorganisation of routes and operations to reduce competition with higher capacity
rapid transport systems have proved difficult given the large number of politically powerful
owner-drivers that must be negotiated with. Proposed regulations for dolmuş vehicles to
provide disabled access (in line with all other public transport vehicles), for example, were
dropped when owners claimed this would represent too high a cost in remodelling their
vehicles83. At the same time, the use of cash payments on these services means that fares
are difficult to regulate. The city now has plans to include dolmuş minibuses in the existing
contactless smart card payment system that applies to other forms of public transport
including high capacity buses and the Istanbul LRT system84. If implemented, this would
allow for regulation of fares and prevent informal bargaining.
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high capacity public transport does not already exist. Where the quantity of semi-
formal services is regulated to reduce competition with high capacity transport
systems, this regulation can come at the cost of higher transport expenses for
commuters.
In these cases, restrictions on particular types of transport services that leave
demand unfilled can actually encourage other, potentially more damaging forms of
transport to emerge. In Douala, for example, the emergence of motorcycle taxis has
resulted from government policy that banned minibus operation to protect the public
transport market86.
In many cases, the best way for governments to improve semi-formal services is to provide
the finance, or access to private finance, that allows operators to maintain and improve their
vehicles. By allowing operators to move away from predatory lending schemes, it may be
more feasible to see improvements in service quality.
The need for enforcement capacity
Any attempts at effective regulation rely on adequate enforcement capacity. Regulating
informal transport, particularly when done in an effort to accommodate higher capacity
86 Kumar, “Understanding the Emerging Role of Motorcycles in African Cities: A Political Economy Perspective.” 87 For more on this, see Kumar and Diou, “The Dakar Bus Renewal Scheme: Before and After.”
Case study: Regulation and renovation of minibuses in Dakar
In Dakar, Senegal, the government in 2005 attempted to regulate and renovate the stock of
‘car rapide’ minibuses in the city. The approximately 25,000-3,000 informal minibuses in the
city provided 80% of public transport demand, largely provided by small scale private
operators. However, vehicles were largely old and in bad condition, with operators unable to
pay for vehicle maintenance, resulting in low quality service and a shortage of public
transport.
The 2005 programme involved leasing out new minibuses, providing training for operators as
well as improving access to credit for private operators for vehicle purchase and
maintenance in exchange for scrapping older, high-polluting vehicles. Private operators
formed cooperative groups in order to collectively access credit for these buses and to
receive formal operating contracts specifying route allocation and fare structures.
By 2008, 505 new minibuses, around one fifth of all minibuses in the city, were operated
under this scheme. This allowed for newer, more sustainable and more comfortable urban
mobility options. The available evidence suggests that they are also faster and cheaper for
passengers because of their regulated routes and stops. Minibus operators have been able
to cover the total costs of operation after initial government assistance in the form of
overcompensation for scrapped vehicles, credit schemes and training. However, these
minibuses operate alongside informal operators that undermine formal revenue generation
by creating excess supply on allocated routes87.
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transport modes, can be extremely difficult to implement due to strong resistance from
existing operators. In many developing cities, however, this capacity to effectively monitor
regulations is weak. In these cases, overly ambitious regulations that exceed capacity and
undermine the rule of law can actually be more damaging than having no regulations at all.
Case study: Limited scope for regulation without enforcement capacity in South Africa
In South Africa, deregulation in 1987 also brought previously informal minibus taxis into
the formal transport system. However, in this case formalisation involved limited effective
government control over their operation88. Limited capacity for regulation alongside
government corruption meant that taxi associations continued to informally manage the
industry.
Over time, the influence of these associations grew and violent conflict between
competing taxi organisations became rife. Subsequent government attempts to re-
regulate the industry through limiting the issue of permits, legislation over operating hours
and working conditions and registering taxi routes to improve access and safety have led
to violent resistance by politically powerful taxi operators and have been undermined by
ownership of taxis by police and government employees89.
Working with citizens to enforce regulations can significantly reduce monitoring costs of
enforcement. In Kenya, for example, a random sample of over 1000 matatu minibuses were
randomly selected to have stickers placed on them that encouraged passengers to report
when drivers were driving dangerously. This so called “Heckle and Chide” experiment
provided the sense of social unity and motivation to encourage passengers to pressure
drivers into driving more safely. Speeds of those matatus with stickers fell significantly when
compared to those not selected for the treatment.
Image: Habyarimana and Jack, 2010
In part as a result of this low-cost intervention, insurance claims by the selected matatu drivers across the country fell by between a half and two-thirds between 2006 and 2009 with
claims involving death or injury falling by over 50%90.
Investing in higher-capacity buses may be necessary as density rises It is important to note that taxis, motorbikes and minibuses are at best medium-capacity vehicles, and thus in many cities, investment in higher-capacity shared transport modes may be necessary to prevent congestion in high density areas. As passenger volumes rise above around 5, 000 in each direction per hour, high capacity buses can become more cost
88 Jackie Dugard, “From Low Intensity War to Mafia War: Taxi Violence in South Africa (1987 - 2000),” 2001. 89 Dugard. 90 Habyarimana and Jack, “Heckle and Chide: Results of a Randomized Road Safety Intervention in Kenya.”
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effective when accounting for commuters’ time otherwise wasted in waiting for transport, whilst also reducing congestion in a city91. Because of their higher carrying capacity, larger buses can facilitate the mass movement of
people when compared to lower capacity cars, bikes or minibuses. Whilst minibuses that are
approximately 7 meters long can transport around 30 passengers per vehicle, high-capacity
double decker buses such as those operating in London can carry up to 87 passengers with
a 15-meter length92. This means that approximately 35 percent more road space is needed
per person when travelling by minibus as compared to high capacity public buses as seen in
cities such as London. Evidence from Jakarta, Indonesia, suggests that the per-passenger
use of road space for a standard bus is approximately half that of a minibus93.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). 6166 of these buses service
over 5 million passengers every day in Bangalore, India94. (Image source: Hayathkan.h, 2014)
Type of infrastructure Capacity (persons/hour/direction) Urban street (car use only) 800
Bike path 3,500
Pedestrian walkway 4,500
Dual lane highway 2,000
Bus lane 10,000
Estimated capacity of different transportation infrastructure (Source: Rode et al., 201495, based on based on Rode and Gipp 2011, Litman 2009, Wright
2002, and Brilon 1994)
91 Cervero, “Informal Transport in the Developing World.” 92 Transport for London, “Route 66 Switches to Double Decker,” Transport for London, 2014 93 Cervero, “Informal Transport in the Developing World.” 94 BMTC, “BMTC at a Glance,” 2017, https://www.mybmtc.com/bmtc_glance. 95 Rode et al., “Accessibility in Cities: Transport and Urban Form.”
33
However, the need to invest in higher capacity systems does not mean replacing lower capacity systems entirely:
• As high-capacity buses are more expensive to invest in than semi-formal services,
they are therefore less appropriate for low-density, low-income areas that will not
generate sufficient demand to cover costs of provision. In Dakar, Senegal, new high-
capacity buses can cost over 10 times the price paid for minibuses, and as such
fares charged for these can reach USD$0.90 where minibuses usually do not charge
more than USD$0.2596. A rough estimate suggests that across Mexico’s 100 largest
cities (excluding Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey), in order for a BRT
system to make up even 25% of urban transport (roughly half of public transport
trips), estimated capital costs would range from $13,554 to $528,99797. Even in the
most optimistic scenario, this would mean a BRT of this scale would cost
approximately 3% of GDP of these cities – as compared to the 3.7% of GDP the
Mexican government spend on education in 2013. At worst, this would cost 125% of
GDP98.
• Without additional investment in widening and improving the quality of roads and well
as regulating private transportation, simply increasing the number of public buses on
existing roads may create further challenges. In particular, this may contribute to
issues of gridlock, resulting in slow journeys with higher emissions. Large municipal
buses in Accra, for example, have been unable to compete with minibus services
due to their inability to maintain adequate speeds and regular schedules99. High
capacity buses work most effectively on dedicated lanes, as seen in BRT systems
(see section below).
• The introduction or expansion of a mass public bus system is likely to face
resistance from semi-formal transport operators for whom these investments can act
as competition for their services and jobs.
Lower capacity services provided by buses, taxis and motorbikes can instead complement formal transport services by providing ‘feeder’ services from low density areas that provide
individuals access to higher capacity systems in higher density areas of a city.
96 “Senegal’s Legendary ‘Car Rapides’ Reaching the End of the Line,” Reuters, November 13, 2015
97 Erick Guerra et al., “High Capacity Transit, Sprawling Density, and Commute Choice in Mexico’s 100 Largest Cities,” 2017. 98 Guerra et al. 99 Cornelius Nuworsoo, “New Public Transit System for Accra, Ghana,” Focus 3, no. 1 (April 1, 2006),
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How can policymakers decide on additional investments for mass capacity public transport?
For cities at higher levels of density and with greater resources for public transport
investment, a key decision facing policymakers is whether to, and what extent to, invest in
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) or rail-based transport systems. An effective transport strategy for
a city is one that invests in alternative complementary modes of transport across a city
depending on their suitability to particular areas.
BRT systems
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems are bus systems that aim to mimic the regularity and
speed of rail-based transit by providing lanes where BRT buses have priority or sole use. A
BRT system was first developed in Curitiba, Brazil, as a cost-cutting way to provide high
speed mass transport in the city. BRT systems of varying sophistication and technology
have been implemented in over 150 cities across the world, including Bogota, Cape Town,
Lagos, Yangon and Dar es Salaam. There are two main forms of BRT seen in cities:
1. High-end or full-service BRT systems: These have specific traffic lanes exclusively
designated for BRT buses. Full service BRT systems have high-quality raised
platforms with pre-boarding fare collection to speed up the boarding process. In
addition, these systems often use advanced technologies to manage traffic signalling
and provide real-time information on bus timings. Such BRT systems are seen in
cities such as Bogota, Dar es Salaam, Lima, Jakarta, and Guangzhou.
2. “BRT Lite” systems: These BRT buses are given some form of signal priority and
some dedicated marked lanes, alongside some mixed traffic lanes, but not fully
physically separated busways. BRT Lite systems often have more simple bus
shelters instead of raised stations. These systems are often less technologically
intensive, less costly and can involve fare collection on buses rather than before
boarding. These kinds of system are seen in Lagos, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Traffic congestion before and after the construction of a BRT system in area surrounding Ganging station in Guagzhou, China
(Source: World Bank, 2017)
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Addis Ababa’s Light Rail system in 2015
By allocating specific lanes for buses, BRT systems combine the benefits of high capacity
and low congestion for efficient, regular and low-emission connectivity. The benefits of BRTs
in reducing congestion through high capacity transport are more pronounced for full-service BRT lanes. The quality of busways significantly affects the speed of BRT travel,
with mixed use lanes offering the slowest means of transport100. However, high end BRTs
come with additional capital and operating costs. Often these two ‘types’ of BRTs can be
seen in the same city, as in Beirut, for example, where a full-scale BRT operates in the city
centre, and a BRT Lite system in surrounding areas.
The BRT system launched in Lagos in 2008 served over 200,000 passengers daily in its first
year of operation and cut average in-vehicle journey times by 40 percent and waiting times
by 35 percent101, despite the fact that BRT buses only make up 4% of vehicles on Lagos’s
roads102.
Rail based transit: light rail and mass rapid transit systems
More complex (and costly) rail based transport include:
• Light rail transit (LRT) systems. These systems operate using trains that run
mostly over-ground using an electrified line. These are higher capacity than trams,
and operate on an exclusive dedicated line. LRTs generally operate at lower speeds
and have a lower carrying capacity than regular railway or metro systems.
• Mass rapid transit (MRT) metro/commuter railway systems. These trains
transport passengers on trains that run on tracks over- or underground in a city.
These tracks are not accessible by pedestrians or other vehicles and often operate
underground or on elevated structures above street level. Such systems include the
New York City subway and the Shanghai Metro.
100 Robert Cervero, “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): An Efficient and Competitive Mode of Public Transport (Working Paper)” (Berkeley Institute of Urban and Regional Development, 2013). 101 Mobereola, “Lagos Bus Rapid Transit: Africa’s First BRT Scheme.” 102 Gordon Pirie, “Sustainable Urban Mobility in ‘Anglophone’ Sub-Saharan Africa,” Thematic Study Prepared for Global Report on Human Settlements 2013 (Nairobi: UN-HABITAT, 2011), http://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2013.
New York City’s subway system (Photo: Moreira, 2008)
36
The LRT system opened in Addis Ababa in 2015 is estimated to save each traveller 63
hours per year in travel time, with projected estimates of total time saved in 2020 alone
valued at a US$39.5 million103 - approximately 12% of the initial capital costs of construction.
Carrying capacity and costs of these systems
BRT Light Rail Metrorail
Construction time 1-2 years 2-3 years 4 – 10 years
Maximum capacity (passengers/vehicle unit) 160 – 270 170 – 280 240 - 320
Line capacity (passengers/direction/hour/lane) 2,500-22,5001 12,000 – 27,000 24,0002 – 72,000
Maximum speed (kph) 60 -70 60 – 80 70 – 100
Average capital costs^ (US$million/km) 8.4 21.5 104.5
Average operating costs^ (US$ / vehicle revenue km)
2.94 7.58 5.30
Adapted from Cervero (2013) ^Capital and operating costs calculated from US case studies, using 2000 $USD Consumer Price Index average
Carrying capacities
Experience from a number of cities reveals that while most well-functioning traffic lanes can
accommodate around 800 vehicles per hour past a given point, by allocating specific lanes
for buses, BRT lanes can accommodate the movement of over 9,000 people per hour104.
LRTs generally have higher capacities than BRT systems on dedicated lanes. The two-line
34km LRT system opened in Addis Ababa in 2015, for example, is estimated to have a
carrying capacity of 15,000 passengers/hour/direction/line past a particular point105. This is
compared to Lagos’s 22km BRT system that is able to transport 10,000 people per hour per lane in peak hours106. However, in the case of more sophisticated BRTs, LRTs may
actually have lower capacity. For example, Bogota’s high capacity TransMilenio BRT is able
to carry over 20,000 passengers per hour per direction on each lane107.
MRTs, on the other hand, usually have higher carrying capacities than bus-based systems,
at over 30,000 passengers per hour per direction108. As such, investments in these systems
can be transformative for rapidly growing cities.
103 Dipti Ranjan Mohapatra, “An Economic Analysis of Light Rail Transit in Addis Ababa Ethiopia.pdf,” 2015 1 Number of lanes (2) and carrying capacity for maximum based on Bogota’s TransMillenio, from Venkat Pindiprolu, “Applicability of Bogotá’s TransMilenio BRT System to the United States: Final Report” (NBRTI, 2006). 2 Minimum line capacity based on projections for Jakarta’s MRT from Raditya Margi, “LRT to Move 24,000 Passengers per Hour,” The Jakarta Post, 2015 104 World Bank, “Bus Rapid Transit for Greater Kampala Final Report.” 105 Leyland Hazlewood, Doing Business in Africa: Nuts and Bolts of Succeeding in Business (Motivational Press, 2016); Centre for Public Impact, “Light Rail Transit in Addis Ababa,” Centre for Public Impact, 2016, 106 Orekoya, “The Bus Rapid Transit System of Lagos, Nigeria.” 107 Cervero, “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): An Efficient and Competitive Mode of Public Transport (Working Paper).” 108 UN-HABITAT, “Metro, Light Rail and BRT,” 2013.
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Costs
Costs of these systems include land acquisition costs, capital investment costs, costs of
operation and costs of enforcement. For BRT systems, for example, there may be significant
costs and enforcement capacity needed to restructure road traffic laws and, most
importantly, regulate use of BRT lanes so that they are only used by BRT vehicles.
LRT systems are generally more expensive to construct than BRT systems, and MRT rail
systems, particularly underground systems, have even higher costs of construction, at
approximately five times the cost of LRT systems:
• The 34km LRT system in Addis Ababa, for example, including tracks, locomotives
and communications systems, cost USD$475 million to construct.
• The initial 23.3 km North-South line (including electrical systems and rolling stock) of
Jakarta’s MRT system is estimated to cost over USD$1.7 billion, with the first 15.7
km phase of is estimated at US $1.29 billion109.
By comparison, most BRT systems cost well under USD$10 million per kilometre to
construct110. The 22km BRT system in Lagos cost just USD$37.4 million to build, including
the cost of stations, road partitions and 220 buses111. BRT systems are likely to be
particularly cost effective when compared to more complex transport systems if road lanes
can easily be transformed and a bus system is already in place.
There are, of course, exceptions to this. In Kampala, for example, where land is difficult to
acquire and the city lacks an extensive road network and public bus system, infrastructure
for a pilot 25km BRT system that could carry 37,000 passengers per day is estimated to
cost USD$429 million.112. This is 71% higher than the cost per kilometre of most other
BRT systems across the world.113
Cost analyses from U.S. cities suggests that BRT systems with buses operating on
exclusive lanes generally have significantly lower total costs per passenger, including
operating costs and capital costs, in all cases except where residential densities are very
high and where hourly one-way passenger volumes are in excess of 30,000114.
109
Ayomi Amindoni, “MRT Jakarta: DIgging the City,” The Jakarta Post, 2016, 110
David Hensher and Thomas Golob, “Bus Rapid Transit Systems: A Comparative Assessment,” World Transit Research,
January 1, 2008 111
Cervero, “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): An Efficient and Competitive Mode of Public Transport (Working Paper)”; David O.
Omole and Julius M. Ndambuki, “Sustainable Living in Africa: Case of Water, Sanitation, Air Pollution and Energy,” Sustainability 6, no. 8 (August 12, 2014): 5187–5202, https://doi.org/10.3390/su6085187. 112
World Bank, “Bus Rapid Transit for Greater Kampala Final Report.” 113
David Hensher and Thomas Golob, “Bus Rapid Transit Systems: A Comparative Assessment,” World Transit Research,
January 1, 2008 114
John Robert Meyer, John F. Kain, and Martin Wohl, The Urban Transportation Problem (Harvard University Press, 1965);
Jose A. Gomez-Ibanez, William B. Tye, and Clifford Winston, Essays in Transportation Economics and Policy: A Handbook in Honor of John R. Meyer (Brookings Institution Press, 2011); Arthur O’Sullivan, Urban Economics, 8 edition (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2011).
38
Because of its substantially lower cost, the city of Quito has also been able to build a BRT
transport system that covers nearly 20 times the distance that would have been possible in a
metro rail system with the same resources115.
Carrying capacity and cost of different transport systems
(Figures calculated from Cervero 2013 and UN-HABITAT 2013)
These costs may in turn have implications for sustainable affordability of fares that can be
charged for an LRT or MRT system, and also have implications for how fast the system can
be expanded to meet rapidly growing populations in a city.
Determining investments for a city: an illustrative example
In deciding to what extent to invest in these different technologies, policymakers will need an
idea of how many people travel, or are predicted to travel, across different areas of a city.
Using this, it is possible to ascertain what kinds of public transport systems may benefit
mobility in a city. If, for example, a city were to want to transport 100,000 people from the
outskirts of a city 20km away to the city centre each morning, this can be compared to
carrying capacities and cost estimates of different systems. To give an example:
Transport type Carrying capacity/direction/hour/lane
Annualised capital and operating costs (including
cost ^of land acquisition)/lane km
BRT 10,000 $250,000
LRT 12,500 $600,000
MRT 50,000 $2.5 million
115
Cervero, “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): An Efficient and Competitive Mode of Public Transport (Working Paper).” ^It is important to note that capital and operating costs per kilometre are unlikely to be constant due to economies and diseconomies of scale, where average costs fall or rise as output increases. It is also important to note that these costs should include provisions for unexpected capital enhancements and expected and necessary capital renewal.
39
Given the carrying capacities listed above, to transport 100,000 people (assuming
commuting journeys no longer than 1 hour) would require:
• 10 x 20km BRT lanes, with a total annual cost of $50 million or
• 8 x 4m x 20km LRT lanes, with a total annual cost of $96 million, or
• 2 x 5m x 20km MRT lanes, with a total annual cost of $100 million
Or some combination of these modes. In this way, the need to meet a particular level of
mobility demand can be compared to constraints on capital and operating cost and land availability to determine which investments are feasible for a city.
In this example, we do not consider the additional cost associated with using large
amounts of land for transport systems. This is the ‘opportunity cost’ of land – the cost that
cities incur by giving up prime urban land which can serve other productive uses. If we
assume that an MRT can be constructed below ground, and that any land used for
transportation for a BRT or LRT could instead have been used for more productive
activity, these costs can be substantial and are likely to affect the viability of a BRT
system for large cities.
Estimating financial sustainability
Comparing those options that meet the budget and land availability constraints of city
governments with income levels for fare payments and other sources of funding a city can
give a sense of the financial sustainability of a given system. For example, if average
income levels are approximately $5,000, and from survey data this suggested that daily
fares affordable to the target 100,000 commuters should be set at $1.50 for public transport,
daily total revenues would equal:
Number of commuters x fare for individual travel = 100,000 x $1.50 = $150,000i.
This would mean a total annual revenue of $54.75 million. This can be added to any
annualised funding from commercial revenues, property value-related income and land
value capture mechanisms that increase as a result of public transport system investments.
In this example, if we assume that a city government is able to pay the initial capital costs for
all of these systems, that sufficient land is available for all three, and that all funding is to
come from transport fares, this means that for the three feasible systems:
• A 10 lane BRT system is self-sufficient; annualised revenues > annualised costs
• An 8 lane LRT system is not self-sufficient; annualised revenues < annualised costs.
This would require an annual subsidy of $41.25 million
• A 2 lane MRT system is not self-sufficient; annualised revenues < annualised costs.
This would require an annual subsidy of $45.25 million.
In reality, most forms of public transport will require some level of subsidy, with the exception
of semi-formal transport services and those higher capacity mass transit systems that are
i It is important to note that this assumes a fixed number of commuters. In practice, the number of commuters and the fare charged for travel are interdependent.
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partly funded through land value capture (see paper on institutions and incentives for infrastructure and service provision). Where subsidies are required for transport
investments, cost benefit analysis is required to determine whether the quantifiable benefits
of these systems to passengers and to society more broadly outweigh the costs.
It is important to note that because of the significant public benefits of public transport
services, governments should not necessarily expect them to recover costs purely through
fares. In many cases, subsidies on high capacity transport implemented in an effort to
reduce congestion can allow for a positive cycle of financial sustainability. With higher
investment, better and more frequent public services are provided, increasing ridership as
a result which in turn increases revenues from fares.
The importance of urban density and form Urban density is therefore key to transport decision making. The higher the urban
density, the more riders there are likely to be on each kilometre of public transport systems.
Higher population density for serviced areas therefore allows providers to spread costs in
charging fares whilst also reducing costs by allowing existing buses or trains to be used to
full capacity. Put differently, the higher urban density, the lower the distance required for
transport services to service a given number of riders, and the lower the costs of
construction of public transport systems.
Urban density levels differ across and between cities. In South Asian cities, density levels
are particularly high, with population density in Dhaka, for example, reaching 372 persons
per hectare116. By comparison, in sub-Saharan African cities such as Kampala, urban
densities are lower, at approximately 59 persons per hectare117. In Nairobi, urban density
can range from 5 to 1,200 persons per hectare, depending on the neighborhood118. Though
acceptable walking times vary with the culture and income of a city, surveys on ‘accessibility’
worldwide have indicated that most people will only find public transport acceptable if it
requires no more than 10 minutes of walking to reach a station. This means public transport
stops have a catchment radius of approximately 800 meters119. The population density in
this area can thus help determine the financial viability of transport projects. It is estimated
that BRT systems, for example, can only remain financially viable if there are at least 10
passenger boardings per kilometer per day per bus120. The higher the density of a city, the
more likely it is that a large group of individuals live close enough to a station for it to remain
financially sustainable.
A similar relationship exists between riders and density for LRT and metro systems; because
LRT systems have higher capital costs per kilometre, they require higher urban densities
(and therefore demand) than bus-based systems to remain sustainable whilst still charging
affordable fares. MRT systems would require even higher levels than this.
116 NYU Urban Expansion Program, “Atlas of Urban Expansion” (Marron Institute of Urban Management and the Stern School of Business of New York University, 2017). 117 NYU Urban Expansion Program. 118 Global Site Plans - The Grid, “Nairobi, Kenya’s 1973 Master Plan Receives an Update,” Smart Cities Dive, 2014, 119 Alain Bertaud, “The Spatial Organization of Cities: Deliberate Outcome or Unforeseen Consequence? (Working Paper),” Institute of Urban and Regional Development, IURD Working Paper Series, 2004, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5vb4w9wb. 120 Adam Greenfield, “Buses Are the Future of Urban Transport. No, Really,” The Guardian, August 27, 2014, sec. Cities
41
Minimum densities needed to support mass transit (O’Sullivan, 2011)
In cities such as Cape Town and Johannesburg, low-density urban sprawl has meant that
the figure for BRT passenger boarding is closer to 2. This has been a key reason why BRTs
have been unable to meet financial or passenger targets121. This is in contrast to cities such
as Paris and Barcelona, where high urban density allows for sustainable provision of high
cost public transit services.
The spatial form of a city will also play an important role in determining the costs per
passenger of transport provision, because with different urban forms come different
distributions of density along particular routes. Polycentric urban forms, for example, with
multiple high density urban areas will require multiple lower capacity transport routes when
compared to monocentric city structures with one dense urban centre. They may therefore
be less able to support high capacity, high cost rail based systems.
Additional relative costs and benefits of these systems for a city Relative benefits of BRT systems
ü Faster to construct. Compared to other high capacity public transit services, BRT
systems, particularly BRT Lite systems, are relatively quick to build and expand, and
can begin operations before an entire system is completed, making these systems
well suited for rapidly expanding urban areas. Relative benefits of rail based systems
ü Environmental sustainability. As LRT and MRT systems run on electricity and do
not generate tailpipe emissions, they also have lower greenhouse gas emissions
than buses and private vehicles122. A study of the impact of the low sulphur diesel
run, dedicated lane Rea Vaya BRT system in Johannesburg suggests that it has
121 Greenfield. 122 UN-HABITAT, “Metro, Light Rail and BRT.”
Given the variety of costs involved in BRT and rail based systems, they are therefore less appropriate for low density urban areas, where congestion is not sufficient to warrant
these investments, and demand is not sufficient to recover some or all of the costs. As
urban areas begin to increase in density, bus-based systems may be most appropriate
where population growth, income levels and density are not yet high enough to justify
costly investments in rail-based systems.
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saved South Africa up to USD$890 million as a result of improvements in travel time,
road safety and carbon emissions123. This is over three times the total construction
budget for the project which in 2010 stood at $233 million124.
ü Limited land requirements in some cases. MRT systems on elevated structures or
underground do not usually require substantial displacement of existing development
on urban land, avoiding to some extent the challenges of land acquisition other than
for station entry/exits. In Kuala Lumpur, for example, a subway system is being built
on raised tracks to prevent disrupting the existing road network. Though this comes
at substantial capital costs for investment in tunnels or raised platforms, public
investments in MRT systems may be socially optimal in cities with high opportunity
costs for land use.
ü Limited need for enforcement of use. In cities such as Bogota, Accra, Lagos and
Yangon, the inability of officials to fully enforce regulations on the use of BRT lanes
means that private vehicles often use these lanes, significantly impairing the BRT
system as a means of rapid connectivity. LRTs and MRTs do not face a similar
magnitude of problem in enforcement.
ü Reductions in delay and scheduling costs. Because of the lower capacity of BRT
systems, these are likely to approach capacity in high density cities. As such,
commuters can face overcrowded carriages, long queues for transport, and
‘rescheduling costs’ associated with having to leave earlier for work. This is important
for cities such as Bogota, where overcrowding on the BRT system means that at
peak times passengers can wait up to 45 minutes to board a bus125. Depending on
the value of people’s time, these costs can be substantial for high density cities.
ü Limited resistance from existing road users. The introduction of a BRT system,
particularly one that encroaches on existing roads, is likely to face significant
resistance from private vehicle users and other existing bus providers.
Case study: resistance to BRT reform in Dar es Salaam
In Dar es Salaam, for example, plans to introduce a World Bank funded BRT project
initiated in 2002 were significantly resisted by local informal daladala minibus drivers.
This was because the introduction of the BRT system was seen to offer no real
employment opportunities for existing informal operators would significantly reduce
employment and revenues. As such, the construction of the BRT system was very slow
to progress, due in large part to limited will on the part of the Tanzanian government to
challenge these politically powerful transport operators126.
123 Andy Gouldson et al., “Accelerating Low-Carbon Development in the World’s Cities (Working Paper),” Supporting Document for the 2015 Report of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, Seizing the Global Opportunity: Partnerships for Better Growth and a Better Climate (The New Climate Economy, 2015). 124 Rea Vaya Johannesburg, “Rea Vaya: Comprehensive Project Update,” 2010 125 Jason Margolis, “8 Million People. No Subway. Can This City Thrive without One?” Public Radio International, 2015 126
Rizzo, “The Political Economy of an Urban Megaproject.”
43
How can policymakers address challenges to the introduction of both BRT and mass public bus systems?
Operational challenges when investing in high capacity buses and BRT systems are
presented by the strong resistance of private vehicle users as well as existing formal and
semi-formal public transport providers (see above on the challenges of high capacity buses
and BRTs). To mitigate these requires:
1) Enforcement capacity, which often needs strong high-level political commitment. Strong commitment to the effective implementation of transport
systems has been crucial in pursuing mobility investments despite political resistance
and providing the necessary confidence to private investors for the delivery of public
transport systems across developing cities such as Bogota, Seoul and Lagos.
2) Communication with existing bus operators to discuss the employment
opportunities offered by BRT systems and the benefits of these systems to existing
operators when part of an integrated system.
Case study: communication to address resistance in Lagos
In Lagos, for example, the cooperation of politically powerful National Union of
Road Transport Workers in the development of a new BRT system launched in
2008 was needed to avoid lengthy protests and disruption of public services. At
the same time, in order to attract private investors to pay for more expensive BRT
vehicles, the government needed to assure these investors that they would not
face a backlash from the bus union. In order to address political resistance, the
government in Lagos undertook extended negotiations with the bus union, where
they attempted to convince union officials of the widespread benefits of a BRT
system and how in other countries the system had been integrated with existing
bus services. LAMATA sponsored visits by union officials to Latin America to see
the BRT system operating alongside other bus services in practice. As a result, the
bus union agreed to allow a BRT system to operate in Lagos.
3) Employment opportunities for existing bus operators. Resistance to these
systems from existing operators can be addressed to a large extent by providing
employment opportunities to existing operators. For example, in Johannesburg,
minibus taxi operators were included in negotiations from the start, allowing them to
become drivers and shareholders in the new BRT system and limiting resistance127. Integration of existing transport vehicle owners may require government finance, or
support to access private finance, in order to invest in higher capacity buses. In
Lagos and Accra, governments provided the finance or financial guarantees that
allowed existing informal vehicle owners to form cooperatives and jointly invest in
higher capacity buses. To ensure these high capacity buses were financially
sustainable, financial support was combined with regulation to enforce exclusive use
127 Lily Kuo and Lily Kuo, “How a Public Bus System in Johannesburg Saved South Africa $890 Million,” Quartz 2017
44
of particular routes. Public transport needs were met and congestion was reduced
while maintaining crucial political support for the introduction of higher capacity
buses. Lower capacity services then complemented formal transport services by
providing feeder services from low density areas to higher capacity systems in
denser areas.
At the same time, successful integration requires significant investment in training
and re-skilling for drivers to ensure a regular and efficient service on high-capacity
buses. In Lagos, though depots, terminal and lanes for the BRT system have been
provided by the state, the system is operated by a NURTW-affiliated cooperative.
However, NURTW leaders lack the experience and incentive to improve customer
experiences on the BRT system, resulting in low quality service and maintenance of
the system128.
In the long run, introduction of high-capacity buses to compete with minibuses for
transport services will inevitably reduce drivers’ employment in the sector, given that
a greater capacity of passengers can be transported with less drivers under higher
capacity bus and BRTs systems. As such, reducing resistance from existing
operators may require additional measures to provide jobs in the transport or other
sectors.
4) Greater communication with middle income commuters. These are the
commuters who stand to benefit most from a high-capacity bus or BRT system,
particularly if these systems can be subsidised. Therefore, they can be instrumental
in supporting the government on the introduction of these buses.
5) Incremental introduction of these systems. The introduction of a BRT or high
capacity bus system across a city in stages can allow the benefits of enhanced urban
mobility can be demonstrated to users. In Lagos, for example, introduction of a BRT
system despite resistance from more vocal private vehicle users improved their
public support in the long run as bus users began to experience the benefits of a
BRT system.
6) Land acquisition to expand roads for BRTs, where possible. If buses are
separated from cars by building new dedicated lanes, rather than by using existing
road space, BRT systems can improve connectivity for those travelling on the buses
in the system. At the same time, they can also increase the speed of other road
traffic, as seen in Seoul129. This can reduce the resistance to BRTs by private vehicle
users. Policymakers thus face a trade-off here between efficiency and political
resistance of private vehicle users, and the cost and political resistance associated
with land acquisition (see Paper on institutions and incentives for infrastructure and service delivery).
128 Diane de Gramont, “Governing Lagos: Unlocking the Politics of Reform” (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2015). 129 Cervero, “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): An Efficient and Competitive Mode of Public Transport (Working Paper).”
45
Summary of the impact and requirements of different public transport systems (Infographic adapted from Planet Projects, 2017)
46
The importance of complementary urban land use planning for urban accessibility Land use regulations in many developing cities restrict urban density through unrealistic
minimum plot sizes. In Dar es Salaam, for example, the minimum lot size is 375m2 – as
compared to 28m2 in Philadelphia, US, at early stages of development. As a result, 90% of
the city does not comply with this regulation130. Redesigning housing and land use policy^ to
address this, particularly around transport terminals, can play a key role in increasing the financial sustainability of transport systems through higher urban density. At the same
time, inclusionary urban land use and housing policies can help governments to mitigate the
negative effects of transport investments on the affordability of surrounding areas for low-
income households131.
Case study: land use to complement transport investments in Curitiba, Brazil
In Curitiba, Brazil, complementary reforms to land use planning alongside transport
investments have ensured financial viability and popularity of their BRT system,
implemented in 1974. This has been achieved in two main ways132:
• Land use regulation to encourage “transport orientated development” in the form
of higher density in areas surrounding BRT lines and major roads. On sites along
the planned transport axes, legislation permits buildings with total floor sizes of
up to six times the total plot size, with density of development decreasing with
distance from public transport links. As such, the city has been able to ensure
linkages between residential and commercial density and the transport
requirements that come with such density.
• Land use planning actively encouraged use of public transport by providing
pedestrianised access to public (and not private) transport in the city centre, as
well as dedicated land space allocated to exclusive bus lanes.
By complementing land use and mobility investments, the costs charged per passenger
have been able to be maintained at affordable rates – citizens pay only approximately
10 percent of income on travel133. As a result of improving convenience, affordability
and proximity of this system, by 1991 it was estimated that 28% of commuters has
switched from car to BRT travel134.
130 Somik V. Lall, “Opening Doors to the World: Can African Cities Deliver on the Promise of Growth?” (WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, 2016). ^ For more information on improving proximity through urban land use planning, see Cities that Work Policy Brief on Urban
Land Use Planning (forthcoming). 131 Gwilliams, “Transport Pricing and Accessibility.” 132 Gwilliams. 133 Gwilliams. 134 Federal Transit Administration and Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, “Issues in Bus Rapid Transit,” Prepared for the Bus Rapid Transit Forum, 1998.
47
Population density and zoning regulations in Curitiba. Zoning has been implemented to encourage high density development along transport corridors, but further reforms to encourage more marketable land rights can allow for greater central urban density. (Source: Bertaud, 2002)
Policies to improve mobility in cities are, however, only one piece of the puzzle. People’s
access to job opportunities and urban services can also be expanded by increasing their proximity to each other. Initial findings from accessibility in Indian cities finds that proximity
alone can explain up to 81% of the differences in citizens’ access across these cities135. In a
city like Bokaro (in Jharkhand, India), well maintained roads mean that cars can travel high
speeds, but accessibility is hampered by the fact that there are long distances between
locations.
Current patterns of land intensive and fragmented ‘leapfrog’ urban growth in many
developing cities increase average distances between people’s homes and jobs, limiting
workers’ accessing job opportunities across a city. By preventing businesses from locating in
certain areas, people have to travel long distances to access jobs. In Cape Town, for
example, a lack of central density in the city means that 86% of residents cannot affordably
access marketplaces136.
135 Akbar et al., “Accessibility and Mobility in Urban India.” 136 Laura Sara Wainer, Billy Ndengeingoma, and Sally Murray, “Incremental Housing, and Other Design Principles for Low-Cost Housing” (IGC, 2016).
48
Fragmented development in Nairobi (Source: Lall et al., 2017)
The importance of proximity highlights a key role for urban land use policy to complement
investments in mobility. In some cities, this will involve decentralisation of particular types of
economic activity such as hairdressers and grocers into mixed use neighbourhoods that
allow consumers easier access. In many developing cities, there is also a need to intensify
urban density, particularly for firms that offer employment opportunities in central urban
areas and in surrounding residential areas. By relaxing unnecessarily stringent density
regulations, policymakers can encourage more compact urban growth. This can expand
access to opportunities without having to expand means of mobility (whilst also increasing
the financial sustainability of existing transport systems).
Coordinating land use and housing policy with transport investments, particularly on
the outskirts of a city, can rapidly improve accessibility in many developing cities.
49
Concluding remarks Urban policy to address constraints to mobility in developing cities is crucial to improving
their liveability, productivity and sustainability. Mobility policy can act through three main
channels: provision and management of core infrastructure such as roads and pavements,
regulation of private use, and regulation and investment for public means of transport.
Investment in roads and pavements provides the foundation for accessibility in cities.
However, evidence from developed cities shows that more roads will not solve problems of
congestion in cities, unless accompanied by measures to regulate private use and invest in
public transport systems. In this context, financial disincentives to vehicle use and ownership
can represent ‘win-win’ solutions to restrict use and finance public transport infrastructure.
Public transport in many developing cities primarily takes the form of semi-formally provided
paratransit services, with informal minibuses acting as the backbone of urban access in
many cities. Policy to regulate these systems must take into account the key role they play
as a low-cost means of urban mobility. When investing in higher capacity public transport
systems, the choice of technology involves a trade-off between cost and carrying capacity.
In many cities, BRTs have offered a relatively low-cost and high capacity system, but
tailoring technologies to the transport needs of the cities involves detailed cost-benefit
analysis. Urban density plays a key role here in determining the financial feasibility of
different systems. Any subsidies required to supplement individual user fees can be
considered alongside the additional benefits and costs the system is expected to provide,
with political resistance to transport investments a key challenge to be factored into this
analysis.
Critical to the success of any urban mobility policy is the need for adequate planning, legal
and regulatory institutions, as well as appropriate arrangements for providing and financing
effective infrastructure and service delivery. Options for financing and provision of transport
infrastructure and services, as well as the necessary institutional reform required to
effectively address mobility concerns, are addressed in institutions and incentives for infrastructure and service delivery.
Alongside mobility policy, improvements in urban accessibility will require complementary
policies to manage land use in a city that can both improve the financial sustainability of
transport investments, but also increase access through greater proximity of opportunities
and services.
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Recommended further reading Amelsfort, Dirk van (2015), “Introduction to Congestion Charging: A Guide for Practitioners in Developing Cities”. Asian Development Bank and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
Cervero, Robert (2013), “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): An Efficient and Competitive Mode of Public Transport” (Working Paper), Berkeley Institute of Urban and Regional Development
Cervero, Robert (2000), “Informal Transport in the Developing World” UN-HABITAT
Collier, Paul and Venables, Tony (2016), “Urban infrastructure for development”. Oxford Review of Economic Policy
De Gramont (2015), “Governing Lagos: Unlocking the Politics of Reform”, Carnegie Endowment for Peace Gwilliams, Ken (2017), “Transport Pricing and Accessibility”, Brookings: Moving to Access
UN-HABITAT (2013), “Global Report on Human Settlements: Planning and Design for Sustainable Urban Mobility”.
More interesting case studies of political processes behind transport reforms are also
available from Transforming Urban Transport- The Role of Political Leadership (TUT-POL)
at http://www.transformingurbantransport.com.
Please cite the contents of this document as follows: Collier, P., Glaeser, E., Venables,
A., Manwaring, P., and Blake, M. (2017) Accessing opportunities: policy decisions for enhancing urban mobility – version 2. IGC Cities that Work Policy Brief.
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